School-Based Socioemotional Intervention in Rural China: Implications for Designing and Implementing Cultural-Sensitive Intervention Research

Background and Purpose:

Impacted by China’s urban-rural inequality, students in rural schools often lack educational resources, present more academic challenges, and exhibits more socioemotional problems than their urban counterpart. Recent school-based interventions in western countries (such as mindfulness, social emotional learning, and LifeSkill training) have shown positive effects on student socioemotional outcomes. In China, however, few evidence-based interventions have been provided to the large vulnerable youth population in rural schools. Consequently, little research has investigated the efficacy and mechanisms of existing interventions in Chinese rural schools. This study discusses the implications from developing and implementing an age- and culturally-appropriate socioemotional intervention for enhancing rural Chinese middle school students’ emotional and behavioral outcomes.

Method:

A total of 132 7^th-graders from a rural school in China were randomly assigned to three groups by their classroom: 1) a treatment group (or class) that received eight weeks of an adapted mindfulness training in classroom settings, with one 40-minutes session per week during regular school-hour; 2) an active control group that participated in the same amount of class activities (i.e. introduction of different countries’ culture) during the same time; and 3) a wait-list control group that followed regular school schedule. Immediate post-training evaluation, trainers’ process recording, and weekly debriefing were conducted to ensure treatment fidelity. All participants and their parents were assessed before and after the 8-week period by self-reported Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM), Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS), and parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Pretest and posttest data of the three groups were compared to examine the efficacy of the intervention. In addition, debriefing with school administrators and teachers were held to collect qualitative feedback based on their daily observation.

 

Results:

The results showed that eight weeks of mindfulness training significantly improved participants’ level of mindfulness. The treatment group also had significant decrease in anxiety and depressive symptoms and increased resilience, while the control group did not. Meanwhile, the active control group also showed increase in resilience but was not substantial as the treatment group. In addition, through participants’ evaluation of the training sessions, we also identified intervention components that were particularly receptive (e.g. mindful breathing exercise) or were more challenging (e.g. sharing emotions/feelings) in the Chinese cultural context.

 

Implications:

The findings suggest that school-based mindfulness intervention can improve Chinese adolescents emotional and behavioral outcomes. The study also highlights things to beware of when designing intervention programs that are age- and culturally-sensitive. This study provides implications for designing and implementing intervention in a Chinese community, and informs future interventions in school settings with students from Chinese culture or similar backgrounds.